Copyright 2008@ Judy Rosella Edwards. Do not reprint without written permission.

The MTV generation uses the term crib to refer to a posh house. Historically, in the United States, a crib was a prison for women slaves.

I have often wondered if the staff at MTV’s tv show, “Cribs” understands the tragic history of the crib and the impact cribs have had on genealogy. Following the abolition of slavery in the United States, so-called “white slavery” took hold.

“White slaves” are usually very young white women, as young as eleven, who have been forced or tricked into prostitution. But young girls of every ethnic group have been enslaved for more than a century.

Calling an extravagant home a “crib” is a far cry from the origin of the term. A crib was a tiny closet or cubicle where a sex slave was imprisoned. She was free only to provide prostitution services to a client.

Cribs existed across the United States between the late 1800’s and early 1900’s. Universal Pictures brought the cribs to light in 1913 via the movie, “Traffic in Souls.” The story was based on slave traffic arrests in New York.

Soon, “Inside the White Slave Traffic” was released, documenting white slave traffic in New Orleans. The movie was largely attended by men and offered no solution.

As a result, reformed protested the movie’s content. Attempting to prevent such from movies becoming a salacious genre, reformers managed to ban all white slave films in 1914. The unintentional result was that white slavery seems to have slipped under the radar before the public had a chance to understand it.

The Rocky Mountain News ran an editorial on April 3, 1908, about local resident Billy Wheeler who claimed to have made his fortune in Denver by operating cribs on Market Street. The editorial notes that the average citizen comprehends what that means. The editorial claims, “These slaves are not black, but white; not men, but women.”

While that may have been true in Denver in 1908, “white” slavery was not restricted to Caucasians. Nor were they necessarily women although reportedly male sexual slaves have largely been homosexuals.

“Crib whores” on the west coast were not even predominantly white. Between 1900 and 1918, they were mostly Chinese and Black sexual slaves.

Cribs appeared from coast to coast. In 1911, Bellingham, Wash., was considered the clearinghouse for west coast white slave trade. Reportedly, Bellingham maintained a municipal crib house, which was apparently a crib operated by the city government.

Most of us think of Salt Lake City, Utah, as a religious icon. As early as September 1885, Philip Pugsley operated a crib in Salt Lake City. He sold the property in 1899 to Joseph J. Snell who continued to operate cribs there until at least 1916. There were also cribs at 243 South Main Street and 222 South State Street.

In the 1870s and 1880s, cribs were located in Chicago’s Hell’s Half Acre. This area was bounded by State, Taylor, and Polk streets and Plymouth Court. Cribs at Bed Bug Row, at 19th and Armour Avenue, housed Negro whores.

While most people forgot the origin of the term, in June 1972, Time magazine ran an article entitled “White Slavery, 1972.” The story was the same as it had been for a century of white slaves. The article opens with a young girl’s story about being kidnapped while she was shopping and then being sold to a pimp for $100.

Her pimp went on to explain her imprisonment. He also points out, “She in a beautiful crib [apartment].” Time added bracketed clarification, realizing its readership had, in fact, forgotten this unsavory use of the same term used in a Christmas song about the baby Jesus.

Every time I see “MTV Cribs” listed in the television-viewing schedule, my heart sinks. I cannot help but think about all the young women who endured such horrible lives.

So what does all this have to do with genealogy? Everything.

These women (and men) were kidnapped and kept against their will in secret locations. They lived in the shadows.

Crib residents were missing from the census returns. They were not present on tax lists. They are lost to history.

For more information about white slavery and cribs see the following: